Hill Day 2001, Effective Strategies for Educating Policymakers
"The best time to make friends is before you need them."
Lyndon Johnson
What is Hill Day?
Results
Communicating with Members of Congress
Lessons Learned
Organize Your Own State or Local Hill Day
Congressional Recess Schedule
Participating States
What is Hill Day?
On March 19, 2001, Learning In Deed in partnership with the State
Education Agency K-12 Service-Learning Network (SEANet)
conducted the first ever Hill Day event in Washington, D.C. specifically
for K-12 service-learning.
Hill Day has three main objectives:
- Training representatives from Learning In Deed partner organizations
as well as other service-learning practitioners and advocates
in techniques for effectively educating and informing policy makers
about service-learning;
- Raising awareness and understanding of service-learning among
members of Congress; and
- Placing a name and face on the concept of service-learning in
order to facilitate continued dialogue with policymakers.
Hill Day is part of Learning In Deed's policy capacity-building
efforts toward the institutionalization of service-learning. It
is intended that Hill Day events become an on-going strategy to
educate and inform national, state and local policymakers about
quality K-12 service learning.
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation is sponsoring Hill Day to provide an
educational opportunity concerning service-learning for Members
of Congress, their staff and other federal officials. As a private
Foundation, the Kellogg Foundation may not attempt to influence
specific legislation or specific legislative proposals concerning
service-learning. Sponsorship of the visits with public officials
is not intended as an endorsement or criticism of any legislation
or legislative proposal.
Results from Hill Day 2001
- Fifteen state and local service-learning representatives conducted
38 visits with Congressional members, White House and U.S. Department
of Education officials. Participating States
- Participants gained a wide range of skills to effectively communicate
with policymakers at all levels about their work.
- New service-learning informational materials for a policy-oriented
audience have been developed and piloted during Hill Day 2001.
Hill Day 2001Materials
 .
Communicating with Members of Congress
- Leave your initial meeting with a clear reason for continued
conversation with the Congressional member or staff person that
you meet with. The person should expect to hear from you regarding
a follow-up opportunity around service-learning. You might ask
the Congressional member to attend a site visit in your district,
write an op-ed, or sign a proclamation supporting the concept
of service-learning.
- Communication with Congressional members should usually occur
via telephone or fax. Congressional offices receive massive amounts
of e-mail and communicating electronically sometimes generates
delays in scheduling meetings.
- Congressional members have full-time schedulers responsible
for scheduling meetings like yours. When you call an office, ask
to speak with a scheduler and try to be flexible with your preferred
meeting times.
- Meeting with a Congressional Member is sometimes not possible.
Meetings with legislative aides, especially aides who focus on
education, can be extremely productive.
- Prepare for meetings with Congressional members by reviewing
bios and all recent education activity.
What We Learned From Hill Day 2001
- Congressional members and their staffs are interested in service-learning
and how it connects to: The Elementary and Secondary Education
Act (ESEA); violence prevention; dropout prevention; mentoring;
real-world learning; and making schooling more meaningful to students.
- Congressional members and their staffs are interested in learning
about specific projects in their state and home district.
- Congressional members want to hear from their constituents about
service-learning.
- Service-learning practitioners and advocates need to educate
and inform their respective Congressional member about service-learning.
Organize Your Own State or Local Hill Day
Many of the materials used in Hill Day 2001 are available for you
to use to develop your own state or local Hill Day.
Hill Day 2001 Materials
- Sample Template of State-Specific Information
- Service-Learning: A Growing Trend in America's Schools (statistics
and overview)
- Capitol Hill Follow-Up Form
- Op-Ed by John Glenn
- Opportunities to Use WKKF Grants to Inform Public Policy
- Sample Media Advisory
- Press Release Template
Additional Materials available include:
Recess Schedule for the Senate (2001):
Easter recess is April 7 - April 22
Memorial Day recess is May 26 - June 3
Independence Day recess is June 30 - July 8
August Recess is August 4 - September 3
Recess schedule for the House (2001):
Easter recess is April 7 - April 23
Memorial Day recess is May 26 - June 4
Independence Day recess is June 30 - July 8
August Recess is August 4 - September 4
Hill Day 2001 Participating States
California
Colorado
Florida
Kansas
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
New Mexico
Oregon
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Texas
Utah
For more information about Hill Day, you can also contact Barbara
Gomez at bgblank@erols.com
To access the above
files, you must first download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader software.
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